EDUCATION BOARD.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 September 1915, Page 3

EDUCATION BOARD.

THE MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Taranaki Education Board was held yesterday. (Present: Messrs H. Trimble (chairman), G. A. Adlam, R. Masters, F. Mackay, E. Marfell, A. Morton, A. H. Halcombe and the Rev. A. B. Chappell. Leave of absence was granted to Mr. A, M. Bradbury. OVERSEER'S REPORT. Bell Block—The,dividing of the school room into two class rooms, removal of platforms and painting the inside, have been attended to. Denbigh.—Considerable amount of repairs were necessary at this school, including new out-offices, lavatory basins and drainage, new tank and stand, new blinds and sundries; also the whole of the outside and ceiling inside was painted. Whilst at Denbigh, the chainnaa of the School Committee, Mr. Mills, drew my attention to the state of the fence around the horse-paddock (about 10 chains) and the question of renewing same. I went fully into the matter and also suggested that the committee write to the Board. Ratapiko.—We are attending to the necessary repairs at thi3 school. The head teacher drew my attention to the present wash-house; the building is of white pine and is a lean-to against a trapshed. If the Board would find the timber the teacher offered to find labor. I propose to let her have any sound timber from the present out-building, and about another £lO or £l2 would pay the cost of the rest of material required. Tarurutangi.—As instructed, the general renovating of the school residence is being attended to. General.—Owing to the amount of work in the Stratford district we have been unable to make a start down the coast, but hope to do so within the next fortnight. The report wa3 adopted. THE TECHNICAL COLLEGE. Mr. A. Gray (Director of the Technical College) reported:—At the College, work is proceeding satisfactorily in all the classes. There are at present 138 students on the roll of the day class, and 178 night students. It has been decided to make the work of the Thursday evening electrical engineering class deal main, ly with tramway work. The College is indebted to the Sash and Door Co. for the loan of a car for the motor-car class and to Mr. Brooking for the use of his garage for practical demonstrations. Agriculture.—Mr. Sereel renortß as follows: Since'the holidays we have cultivated and banked the early potatoes, of which the varieties show considerable difference in growth, but are all looking well. We arc just about to spray. We are engaged in putting in varieties of early seeds, in the shape of mangold, etc., but not our main crop\ yet. The oats which we sowed for green manuring are showing up nicely, and as we are | a little behind with our operations I propose to let them develop fully and sell as a ripened crop. Since my last report I have lectured and been to Hurford road, Kaimiro, Tarata, Kent road and Awafcuna. Owing to bad weather at sundry places I am re-visiting them, and on this journey round the mountain am also lecturing at new centres. There is not very much to report, except that at Awatuna I was very much impressed with the splendid work of improvement of farms, by draining aid cultivation under usual difficulties. lam glad to find considerable interest is being taken in the boys' agriculture competitions. The number of compulsory students attending the class is now seventy-three. A feature of these students which has been remarked on by instructors is that as a rule thev are a fine type of boy and girl. This is very pleasing, and speaks well for our town, since in some centres the compulsory students have proved themselves in many cases somewhat undesirable.

At Stratford the instructor (Mr. Smart) reports that good work is being done in the plumbing class. Tlicro arc seven students on the roll and one or two new ones are joining shortly. The report was adopted. NEW SCHOOOLS. On the proposed school at Finnerty road, a report was presented by linspector Whetter. He stated that the number of children of school ago who would probably attend the proposed school was 27. There were 25 children under school age living in the district, .uid about six of these would be of school age next year. The nearest schools were Ngaere, Mahoe and Mangatoki, which .vere respectively 3'/», 7 and 5 miles distant. The settlers were willing to give a suitable site about 15 chains from the junction of Stuart and J'innerty roads, the section containing an acre and having 250 links frontage to Finnerty road. There were several children on the Stuart road who, in order to attend the Ngaere school, had to travel over four miles and ford the Waingongoia river. This river rises very quickly and is then very unsafe to ford. He felt that the settlers had a reasonable calim for the establishment of a school, and lie recommended that application be made to the Department for a grant towards the election of a building.—The report was adopted, and it was decided to make application for a school. Inspector Ballantyne reported that he visited the Pukenahu district to make enquiries in regard to the establishment •)f a school la that district. The number

of children of school age who would he likely to attend the school if established was 24. The number of children under school age living in the district was 22. Several of these would be of school age next year. The nearest school was at Bird road, five miles away. He recommended that a school should be provided.—The report was adopted, and the matter of procuring a suitable site was left in the hands of Mr. Masters.

Inspector Ballantyne reported on the request for the erection of a new school at Mt. Messenger. The school was at present held in a small unlined building erected by the settlers about four years ago. The number of pupils in attendance was 19. In the district there were 17 children under school age, five of whom would be of school age next year. The school was four miles from the nearest established school, TJruti. He recommended that a grant be applied for for a new schoo3 3 —Thfi recommendation wu agreed to.

In regard to the request of the railway workers and settlers for a school at Hurimoana, Inspector Ballantyne reported that he could not see his way to make any recommendation. He pointed out that there were at present 39 children in the small building at Tahora, and the school was in consequence unduly overcrowded, and with the summer coming on and the railway workers moving on towards Tahora the congestion in the building would be accentuated. Something of a temporary nature should certainly be done immediately to relievo the pressure.—lt was decided to provide a temporary building at Tahora.' MOVEMENTS OF TEACHERS. The chairman reported that he had to make the following temporary appointments:—Egmont Village, Miss M. Morton, assistant; Frankley, Miss Winfield, assistant; Stratford, Miss P. McAllister, assistant; Egmont Village, Miss E. Drake, assistant; Stratford, Mr. R. Adlam, assistant; Tuna, Miss E. Drake; Central, Miss M. Mouat, pupil teacher. The following teachers were granted leave of absence owing to illness:—Miss L. Fleming, assistant at Opunake; Mrs. Cartwright, sole teacher at Pukearuhe; Miss M. K. Hare, assistant at Frankley; Miss Meyer, head teacher at Durham, was granted extended leave on account of an accident, and Miss A. Cocker, assistant at Waitara, was granted leave to attend an examination. Mr. Partridge, pupil teacher at the Centra] School, was granted extended leave to join the Expeditionary Force.

GENERAL. The appointment of Mr. R. Stewart to the Tarata School Committee, in place of Mr. Fougere, who is leaving the district, was confirmed. The Department advised that house allowance would be granted at Hillsborough from the beginning of next quarter. The Director of Education advised that the Department had no objection to the establishment of Saturday classes at Stratford for pupils attending schools on the Toko branch line, provided that no option as regards attendance of woodwork and cookery classes is given. The recommendations of the Finance Committee that the overseer's salary should be raised to £286, that his horse feed, etc., allowance should be increased to £BB, and that his motpr cycle allowance should be increased to £46, were approved. Permission was granted to Miss Carden, representing Dr. Barnardo's Homes, to address school children in Taranaki provided the head teachers and committees have no objection. The Department advised that it would endeavor to arrange for physical training classes for teachers for the week following the summer holidays. The Department asked how many teachers were likely to attend and what facilities were available for open-air classes without the necessity of holding a camp.